Counting Stars
by Searing Sunrise
Summary: She tried so hard to hang on for her mother, her father, her sister, even for her absent friends. But eventually, it became undeniable- she needs to do this. What do you do when everything you've ever known was a lie?
1. Prologue

Prologue

Cain was the first to go. Unsurprising, really; he had a lot of issues to work out and a relationship to re-establish with his son. He slipped away quietly one morning about three weeks after the eclipse, with a simple "see you down the road."

Glitch was next, in a completely different way. He was still there- physically, anyway. The surgery to re-integrate his brain had been an unmitigated success; Ambrose was restored to his former glory. Ambrose. Not Glitch. Oh, there were glimpses of Glitch- a "doll" here or there, the occasional wide, pure grin- but by and far, the Queen's advisor was nearly unrecognizable from the man he had been a month before. And while he was funny and charming and undeniably brilliant, the child-like sweetness that had been so endearing was gone.

Raw stayed about three months before taking his leave. DG highly suspected that he had lingered mainly to support her through the emotional roller coaster she'd been on since her return to the O.Z. And he probably would have stayed longer, but he had received a summons from his home, and he and Kalm were gone the next day.

Everyone had lives to resume.

Everyone, except DG.

Who disappeared nine months after arriving in the O.Z.

It was a Tuesday.


	2. Permission

A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews! I've decided to take creative license with some of the terminology of the O.Z. After all, an year is an annual, so I figured they'd probably have different names for other things as well. I'll use these terms when the main character of a scene would be familiar with them. DG will still, for the most part, be using American terms.

Days of the week:  
Monday- Luain  
Tuesday- Mairt  
Wednesday- Ciadain  
Thursday- Ardaoin  
Friday- Haoine  
Saturday- Sathaime  
Sunday- Domhnaiche

In case you're curious, I borrowed these from Gaelic.

Time is told in a 24-hour format, or military style. So for those of you unfamiliar with this format, the morning hours, until after noon, are basically the same. For example, 8:30 am is 08:30, and so on. 8:30 pm is 20:30.

A league is an unofficial unit of length or area that is commonly meant to express the distance a person can walk in an hour. So, roughly 3 miles.

* * *

Chapter One

_Permission_

* * *

Ardaoin  
13:00

_Mr. Wyatt A. Cain,_

_Your presence is required at the Emerald Palace immediately._

_Her Royal Highness,  
__Lavandula Syringa Porfirio Gale  
__Queen of the O.Z._

Something was seriously wrong.

Not that Cain knew much about royal summonses, but what he did know about them was that they usually attempted to give the illusion of having a choice. Of course, legally, one did actually have a choice, but that was semantics, really. Ignoring a royal _invitation_ was never exactly a Good Idea. And being required instead of requested meant that something must be very wrong.

DG?

It must be DG, she was the only tie he had to the Royal Family, even if he'd only known her for a few weeks. While he couldn't claim a particularly close friendship with the girl (a pity; the handful of days he'd spent with her had started to reveal a complex and interesting person, but it was a fact that she was a hero princess, revered by her people, and he was an ex-cop with a tenuous grip on his sanity) he knew her where it counted. They had met under extraordinary circumstances, after all.

So he made his way to the Emerald Palace with a good deal of trepidation, and a strong feeling of dread.

* * *

Ciadain  
03:47

Raw knew as soon as it happened. His link to DG was strong enough for him to feel her distress even over the many leagues between them. She had slowly been becoming more and more agitated over the last couple months, and something in the last few hours had set her off. She had been suddenly pushed past her breaking point, and had made a snap decision. While he couldn't tell exactly what had happened or what she had done, DG had been experiencing a disturbing amount of shock and horror, followed swiftly by panic. Fight-or-flight had kicked in, and she chose to flee.

Raw was already on the way to Central City by the time this had happened. He had expected DG to stay and fight whatever was upsetting her so deeply, and had hoped to get there in time to discover the cause and help his dearest friend.

But she was long gone.

The Queen was going to launch a search, of course, as soon as DG's disappearance was discovered. And she was going to want to talk to the first friends the princess had made in the O.Z.

* * *

Ardaoin  
14:30

"Mister Cain, have you been in contact with my youngest daughter recently?"

He was seated in the Queen's study, a room that managed to look both simple and luxurious at the same time. And slightly intimidating. Not like Azke- _the Sorceress'_ taste; it was a much more subtle intimidation. Not 'I'm going to kill you,' more like 'don't even think about lying to me.'

"No." His eyes narrowed, focused intently on the Queen, attempting to get a read on her. So this was about DG. Not that there had ever been much doubt in his mind. "What's wrong with her?" Before the Queen could answer (not that she had appeared to intend to), a knock came at the door.

"Enter." A page, a boy of about thirteen, slipped in and bowed.

"Y-Your Majesty, the Viewer is here." He was obviously new at his job, and awe-stricken.

"Thank you, Phinnaeus, please send him in." The boy retreated, and an uncomfortable silence descended upon the room. Cain did not usually- ever- fidget, but he had to keep reminding himself to stay still, his apprehension and the quiet serving to make him very nervous.

Finally, Raw was shown in, and did not look at all surprised to see him.

"Mister Raw, thank you for joining us. Please, have a seat." When Raw was seated, looking quite weary, she continued. "I need to know if either of you have heard anything- at all- from DG."

"Not since I left here." Cain replied, redundantly.

"DG sad, angry, scared. Run away." Raw said. The Queen's piercing focus shifted to the Viewer.

"How do you know this, Mister Raw?"

"Raw feel. DG emotions very strong. Has been less and less happy for long while. Something shock, make her run." The Queen was silent again, apparently contemplating the situation.

"So the Princess ran off?" Finally knowing what had happened, Cain wasn't exactly surprised. He hadn't expected it, but somehow, it made sense. DG had never seemed the type to take to corsets and gowns and propriety.

"Do you know what happened to cause her to leave, Mister Raw?"

"Not know. Happen very fast. Only feel what DG feel, not know what DG know." The Queen made a sort of discontented hum. Cain was confused and starting to get angry.

"So you're saying that DG took off to Lurline-knows-where, and no one knows what set her off? How did this even happen? Shouldn't she have minders or guards, or something to keep track of her?" Damn it, he shouldn't have left! He'd trusted that the Royal Guard would be able to keep track of one girl, headstrong and wily though she may be.

"Of course she has guards, Mr. Cain! But it is impossible to watch someone every hour of every day without imprisoning them. And I dare say DG felt confined enough as it was." She drifted off for a moment, a flash of regret on her face. "She disappeared from the privacy of her room in the middle of the night. She did not go through any door or window. Especially considering how quickly she's taken to using her Light, I believe she teleported, which is so extremely hard to do that no one could have expected DG to accomplish such a feat, only nine months after learning that she had magic at all."

Cain heaved an aggravated sigh. "Can you use magic to find her, or, I don't know, track where she teleported to?"

"Normally, yes, but DG is apparently strong enough to block any such attempts. Were it not for this particularly unfortunate situation, I would be ridiculously proud of her. She will so far surpass both Azkadellia and myself, she has the makings of a legend." The Queen's lips pulled up- not quite a smile, almost like a smirk. "Though I suppose she already is."

But Cain was focusing mostly on the fact that DG was gone and could not be found by magic. "So what's going to happen now? How are we going to find the Princess?"

The Queen smiled at him. "We're not. Although my light can't find her, DG has been kind enough not to completely erase herself from detection. Wherever she is, she is well. I had hoped that she might have contacted either of you gentlemen with her location, or at least a hint towards where she plans on going, but my intention was never to retrieve her. I would have sent guards to her."

"But she could be in danger!" Cain exclaimed.

"My daughter is strong, Mister Cain. And as she often asserts, she's a big girl. Hopefully, if we accede to her wishes, she will return on her own."

"DG will let know if trouble." Raw said.

"I imagine she'll be able to handle it herself, anyway." The Queen said.

Cain's brain was still muddling over certain words. "What do you mean, 'her wishes?'" The Queen opened a drawer in her ornate desk and removed something. A piece of paper.

"She left us this. I suppose to prevent anyone from thinking she'd been kidnapped." She handed it to Cain. Even he could feel the magic permeating the page, and somehow, without logic, he knew that DG had written it and had not been coerced into doing so.

_I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry rot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The proper function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time. - Jack London_

_Please, don't look for me. _

_Love always,  
__DG_

* * *

Haoine  
07:00

'Don't look for me' be damned. Cain had packed his bags and said goodbye to Jeb, who was in his first month of training to become a Tin Man, shortly after returning from the palace. He fired up his old rust-bucket of a truck, and was on the road at first light.

Raw had come with him, not for support, but supposedly to calm DG down if and when they found her. The Viewer thought that this half-cocked plan to search every nook of the world for any hint of DG was bound for failure, and even if successful, sure to piss DG off.

"Shut it, furball. The Princess is being reckless and stupid, and I'm going to find her before she gets herself killed." Raw barked a laugh.

"Has three-day start! Tin Man not even know where to look!" Cain gave his best shut-the-hell-up-or-else glare.

"Well that's what you're here for, Fuzzy. I know you know how to find her." The Tin Man and the Viewer had a short staring contest. Raw looked away first.

"Raw not tell."

"Damn it, Raw, you better start talking or I'm gonna-" Raw cut him off.

"DG scarier."

"What the hell? DG wouldn't hurt a fly!"

"DG not want found! DG want be alone! Raw not betray great friend!" Cain growled, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

"Don't you want her to be safe, Raw? She's out there, alone, with no idea how to survive here! In case you forgot, she grew up on the Other Side!"

"DG make friends easy. Will be fine." Okay, then, so Raw was going to be stubborn. Fortunately, Cain had a great memory and had spent three weeks with DG at her most vulnerable.

"South." He decided. Raw just looked at him.

"She wanted to go to some place called Australia, right? She said it was in the south, that she wanted to see the ocean."

"No ocean in O.Z."

"So she left the country. She'd want to be as far from the palace as she could get, without being too far away from Azkedellia. The Mystic Man used to say that teleporting was hard enough, but teleporting over large bodies of water was practically impossible. She'd want to be able to get to her sister in a hurry if she had to, so she's still on the continent."

"Oceans all around Nonestica."

"She went south."

"Specific." Raw was teasing now.

"Shut the hell up."

The Viewer smiled and stared out the window. They were in for one long trip.

* * *

_Somewhere_

DeeDee Hale lifted her face to the brilliant, hot, sun. Sand between her toes and wind in her hair, she smiled.

* * *

Hope you liked it, please review!


End file.
